On Noni Jabavu and the return home—Makhosazana Xaba celebrates one of South Africa’s foundational literary centenarians
This August marks one hundred years since the birth of Noni Jabavu. Makhosazana Xaba reflects on the life of this…
Category: United Kingdom
Read an excerpt from the forthcoming English translation of Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida’s award-winning debut novel That Hair, from the new anthology New Daughters of Africa
In celebration of Women’s Month, The JRB presents a series of excerpts from New Daughters of Africa. Edited by Margaret…
[Photo Editor] Original portraits of Chibundu Onuzo and Michela Wrong by Victor Dlamini
Victor Dlamini is The JRB’s Photo Editor. We feature his work on our Instagram channel. Visit the ten-year retrospective of…
[The JRB Daily] 9mobile Prize Board of Patrons announce resignation—statement by Ama Ata Aidoo, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Margaret Busby, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Zakes Mda and Dele Olojede
The JRB has received a statement from the Board of Patrons of the 9mobile Prize for Literature, indicating their resignation…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Booker Prize longlist announced—including two African authors, Oyinkan Braithwaite and Chigozie Obioma
The 2019 Booker Prize longlist has been announced—described by the judges as ‘bold’, ‘lyrical’, ‘very diverse’ and ‘quite wild’. First…
[The JRB Daily] Tade Thompson’s Rosewater wins Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious prize for science fiction
British-born Yoruba writer Tade Thompson has won the 33rd Arthur C Clarke Award for his novel Rosewater. The Arthur C…
[The JRB Daily] Nigerian writer Lesley Nneka Arimah wins the 2019 Caine Prize—‘We African writers must centre the African gaze’
Lesley Nneka Arimah has won the twentieth edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Skinned’….
[The JRB Daily] Debut novelist Emily Ruskovich wins International Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize, for her book Idaho
American author Emily Ruskovich has won the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award, known as ‘the world’s richest annual literary prize’,…
[The JRB Daily] Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s debut novel House of Stone shortlisted for inaugural Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
The shortlists for the Orwell Prizes, which aim to ‘make political writing into an art’, have been announced. Zimbabwean writer…
[The JRB Daily] Tayari Jones wins the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her ‘exquisitely intimate’ novel An American Marriage
Tayari Jones has been announced as the winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel An American…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘PS. Everybody calls me Binyavanga these days.’ Read Binyavanga Wainaina’s letter to his late mother, from the 2016 exhibition Inside: Artists and Writers in Reading Prison
In 2016, the late Binyavanga Wainaina contributed a piece of writing to a United Kingdom-based art project titled Inside: Artists and…
‘We have entered the uncanny valley of literary realism’—Simon van Schalkwyk reviews Ian McEwan’s new novel Machines Like Me
In Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan appears to have offered us an alternative history that leads to the same dispiriting…
[The JRB exclusive] ‘It is a loss of privacy that has the greatest ability to destroy an artist’—Esi Edugyan, excerpted from New Daughters of Africa
The JRB presents an excerpt from New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent,…
[The JRB exclusive] Read an excerpt from ‘Limerence’, a short story from Henrietta Rose-Innes’s new book Animalia Paradoxa
The JRB is pleased to present an excerpt from Animalia Paradoxa, the new collection of short stories by The JRB Contributing…
[The JRB Daily] Jokha Alharthi and Marilyn Booth win the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for Celestial Bodies
Celestial Bodies by Omani novelist Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, has been announced as the winner of the 2019…
[The JRB Daily] Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist revealed—‘a diverse range of voices and nationalities’
The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, awarded annually to the ‘best, eligible full-length novel in English’ by a woman,…
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist announced, including writers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia
The shortlist for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize has been announced. South African writer Alex Latimer and South Africa-based…
Scenes from a Marriage for the Beyhive generation—Wamuwi Mbao reviews Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Wamuwi Mbao reviews Diana Evans’s novel Ordinary People, which has been longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction….
[The JRB Daily] 2019 Man Booker International Prize longlist announced—women and independent publishers dominate
The longlist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize has been announced. Thirteen novels are in contention for the prize,…
[Conversation Issue] ‘Intersectionality seems so blindingly obvious a notion’—Zoë Wicomb in conversation with Andrew van der Vlies, from their new book Race, Nation, Translation
As part of our January Conversation Issue, we present an excerpted interview from a new collection of Zoë Wicomb’s writing, Race,…
[Conversation Issue] To save the Earth, ‘we need to think beyond national democracy’—George Monbiot discusses his book Out of the Wreckage
British author and noted environmentalist George Monbiot took The JRB’s questions on his new book, Out of the Wreckage: A…
[The JRB Daily] Top 10 of 2018—A look back at our most popular articles of the year
This December marked the twentieth issue of The JRB, and the twelfth of the year. With the festive season reaching…
Justin Cartwright, 1945–2018, RIP
Acclaimed South African novelist Justin Cartwright has died, aged seventy-three. Cartwright passed away on Monday, 3 December, according to The…
Johannesburg’s literary subterranean horror—Read an excerpt from South African Gothic by Rebecca Duncan
The JRB presents an excerpt from South African Gothic: Anxiety and Creative Dissent in the Post-apartheid Imagination and Beyond by…
[The JRB Daily] Anna Burns wins 2018 Man Booker Prize for her ‘utterly distinctive’ novel Milkman
Anna Burns has become the first Northern Irish writer to win the Man Booker Prize. The fifty-six-year-old author won the fiftieth…
‘I like writing male characters—I don’t have to get them home safely at the end of the chapter’—An interview with Aminatta Forna
Aminatta Forna sat down with The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town to talk about her new novel,…
[The JRB Daily] ‘Remarkably diverse’ 2018 Man Booker Prize shortlist announced
The six authors shortlisted for the £50,000 Man Booker Prize have been announced—with 27-year-old debut novelist Daisy Johnson becoming the youngest…
[The JRB Daily] Remembering VS Naipaul in South Africa
VS Naipaul, who died aged eighty-five on Saturday, spent some months in South Africa in 2009, researching his final book….
‘We should wrench the power away from the West and determine our own canon’—Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi talks to CA Davids about her novel Kintu
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is in South Africa in August to discuss her lauded debut novel, Kintu. She spoke to CA…
[The JRB Exclusive] ‘The colonisers were right: the mbira is dangerous’—Read an excerpt from Panashe Chigumadzi’s new book These Bones Will Rise Again
Chigumadzi’s exploration of personal, family and national history reincarnates in stark, vivid images, many of those interred in the shadows…
A curiously enthralling existentialist novel—Wamuwi Mbao reviews OK, Mr Field, the debut novel by South African poet Katharine Kilalea
OK, Mr Field, the debut novel by acclaimed South African poet Katharine Kilalea, is a pleasingly minimalist, idiosyncratic novel, writes…
‘Language switching is the norm in Kenya; I just wrote the way we speak’—Makena Onjerika chats to The JRB about her Caine Prize success
2018 Caine Prize for African Writing winner Makena Onjerika chatted to The JRB Editor Jennifer Malec about her plans to…
[The JRB Daily] 2018 Man Booker Prize longlist announced—no African authors for the second year running
The 2018 Man Booker Prize longlist has been announced, including a graphic novel for the first time. The £50,000 prize had…
[The JRB Daily] Masande Ntshanga, Omar Robert Hamilton, Anietie Isong and Kayo Chingonyi among the winners at the 2018 Society of Authors Authors’ Awards
Five African authors are among the winners of the 2018 Society of Authors Authors’ Awards. The awards distribute the United…
[The JRB Daily] The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje honoured as the greatest-ever winner of the Man Booker Prize
Michael Ondaatje’s ‘transformative’ novel The English Patient has won the Golden Man Booker Prize, a one-off award for the best work of…
[The JRB Daily] Masande Ntshanga, Omar Robert Hamilton, Anietie Isong and Kayo Chingonyi shortlisted for Society of Authors 2018 Authors’ Awards
Four African authors have been shortlisted for the Society of Authors 2018 Authors’ Awards. South African novelist Masande Ntshanga and…
[The JRB Daily] Irish author Mike McCormack wins ‘world’s richest annual literary prize’ for his one-sentence novel Solar Bones
Irish author Mike McCormack has won the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award for his novel Solar Bones. The 270-page novel…
[The JRB Daily] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie awarded 2018 PEN Pinter Prize for ‘fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been awarded the 2018 PEN Pinter Prize. The prize is awarded annually to a writer who, in the…
[The JRB Daily] Kamila Shamsie wins 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her ‘remarkable’ novel Home Fire
Image: Bloomsbury editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle, Kamila Shamsie and her literary agent Victoria Hobbs (Credit: Bloomsbury UK) British–Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie…
A victorious coming-of age novel: Outlwile Tsipane reviews Olumide Popoola’s superb debut, When We Speak of Nothing
Olúmìdé Pópóọlá’s debut novel, When We Speak of Nothing, seems to indicate a blossoming of things to come, writes Outlwile…